SINGAPORE: A university student with a history of mental illness says she is increasingly anxious that her medical record could jeopardise her career prospects.
In an anonymous post in an online forum, the woman said she had raised the concern before with other adults and was repeatedly reassured that employers would have no means of finding out about her condition.
That comforted her for a time. However, her fears returned after hearing about someone who allegedly lost a job because of a previous psychological diagnosis.
According to the woman, the person said he had applied for a childcare position and was initially hired, only to be dismissed after his employer somehow discovered his medical record.
“It suddenly made me very worried because I'm currently in university studying psychology, and I know to work in the public hospital or with vulnerable people, employers will be worried if someone with a past mental health record works for them,” she wrote on the r/askSingapore subreddit on Sunday (Oct 18).
“If I can't get hired in a public hospital, there isn't much I can do with my degree, meaning I wasted money and time. I asked this before, and even though the replies were reassuring, what I was told kind of made me worry again.”
Seeking first-hand experiences from people in the industry, she asked medical professionals and those working with vulnerable groups:
“Anyone here works as a doctor, nurse, psychologist, etc., or works with vulnerable populations and also has a mental health record?? Did any of you get found out? Did anyone not declare and never get found out?”
‘One of my therapists told me s/he had a variant of a mental illness’
In the discussion thread that followed, one commenter replied that they had worked in a public hospital and were diagnosed with a mental health condition during their employment.
They said the licensing board’s main concern is “fitness to practice,” which in their case was confirmed through a single letter from their psychiatrist stating they had fully recovered and no longer needed follow-up. After submitting it once, they were never asked for further updates.
Another individual said they doubted her condition would be a barrier, adding, “One of my therapists told me s/he had a variant of a mental illness.”
A third user asked, “Could he [your acquaintance] contest a wrongful dismissal? Or it could be valid since it's related to children.”
A fourth shared, “My IMH doc is actively medicated for depression also lor, yet I still see them, and they have been there long enough to be senior doc liao.”
The Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP) strictly bar employers from compelling applicants to disclose personal information such as mental health conditions, unless it is directly relevant to the role.
In addition, according to the Workplace Fairness Legislation, employers are not allowed to discriminate against an employee based on their “age, nationality, sex, marital status, pregnancy status, caregiving responsibilities, race, religion, language, disability, and mental health conditions”—also known as the “protected characteristics.”